Thinking about whether you can sell a lot on other platforms except Amazon? Here’s how to sell eBooks without going through Amazon!
Mark didn't want to sell his book on Amazon because of all the things that Amazon has done over the years. Their business practices employment treatment. A lot of the different things that Amazon has been up to.
So, Mark decided that is not right for him. The problem is that Mark simply didn't have any other word to go. So, he figured it would be impossible for him to get his book sold.
Well, he was completely wrong. And that's one of the reasons why in today's article, we are going to discuss How to Sell eBooks without going through Amazon!
Mark lives in Scotland and about six months ago, he was working through his book. The book that he was writing was in terms of visiting the highlands. That was the topic that he was looking at for his non-fiction book.
It was a subject that he knew a lot about. He figured this would be a possible book for him to get onto the market and sell. If he could only figure out how to sell it without having to go through the Amazon process.
The challenge though was that he didn't want to go through Amazon. He wanted to see if he could skip the Amazon part but still do it with self-publishing. He knew his book could be popular because of all the tourists that are now starting to come back to Scotland.
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I'll be visiting Scotland not too long myself. I will not be visiting Mark though but while I'm over in Scotland, I will be around the highlands. And a lot of these areas where I could be able to see and get a better feel for what's going on over there.
The thing was for his particular book, he knew that it would be popular and it would reach a large audience. But there wasn't another option. At least in terms of his understanding of how self-publishing works or he could get it traditionally published.
But then they would put it on Amazon and that would create a problem. So, the first thing he decided was “I've got a great idea”. He decided he could put the book into a format that he could like a PDF.
Put it on his website. So that was the first thing. But then he needed a payment gateway and a lot of other things that are complicated that I worked through with my students as well.
We're moving to the advanced phases of self-publishing. But at least in the beginning, this is not something that's recommended. There are just too many things to learn and you don't have an audience.
So, if they are going to pull out their credit card on your website and start giving you money when they don't even know you. That's one of the big things with Amazon. Then the second thing he decided to do he gave up on that one.
Following The Road Map
The second idea was maybe he could just print out his books. He could use his printer and print out the Word document that he had been working from. But he suddenly discovered the total amount of ink in terms of doing covers.
This solution was also terrible. Trying to print your books is an awful idea. They don't look professional.
Nobody's going to want to buy this. They need a professional look which of course Amazon can do. But then you have to go back to Amazon and that was where the challenge came.
So, the final thing that Mark was looking at though was that we ended up doing a Discovery Session. After that, he ended up joining my Self-Publisher 1-On-1 Program. Where we're able to take a look at his exact situation and walk him through the steps.
Following through on the road map. Looking daily and seeing a little bit upon how things are going. Then, meeting once a month for a Zoom call.
We're able to discuss his specific issues. So, the first thing we did was we looked at the landscape. And realized that Amazon is not the only player.
They are number one. I recommend for all of my students go with Amazon even if you're opposed to them. Because the fact is if you're giving up, wait till you're a best seller and then exit Amazon.
But in the beginning, the fact is that going with Amazon isn't going to destroy everything. But in the case of Mark, I respect my students' desires. I respect their ethical feelings regarding the different choices they're making when it comes to self-publishing.
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And if they don't go with Amazon, that's just fine. Because there were four other options. The first one was IngramSpark which is a fantastic option.
I make more money off my paperback books on IngramSpark. Then I do Amazon KDP Print which is amazing. The second thing was Lulu which I use for hardback books.
But you can also use it for your eBooks, hardback, and paperback if you want. But at least for the hardback books, that was the choice that I've traditionally gone with. Now Amazon does have an option.
But in the case of Mark, that wasn't going to help too much. Since we already said that he was opposed to going with Amazon. IngramSpark by the way also allows you to take your EPUBs right in there.
Then for max distribution of the digital version of your book, Draft2Digital is a great choice. Because they're on many networks except for Amazon with some exceptions. You can also try Publish Drive and some others but this is Draft2Digital would be the next pick of mine.
Then finally for your audiobooks, if you do not want to go on Amazon, that means you will not have a Kindle book. And without a Kindle book, you're not going to have a chance of getting an audiobook produced on ACX which is also owned by Amazon Audible, right?
So, you're going to go through and find voices. That was the thing I was telling Mark. Look, we're not restricted here just because you don't want to go with Amazon.
Go With The Best
So, how to sell eBooks without going through Amazon! There are a lot of other options you can go with. But the thing is that Amazon is the biggest and it is the best that you're going to go with.
The others are big enough to build traction. But you're going to give yourself a runway of about three to five years as you're putting out your books. To increase the income that's coming in from these books.
I will tell you the truth. The truth is that most books when they're first entering the market are not going to sell thousands of copies. I do recall some of my books when I started playing the keyword games and understanding how keywords can lead to sales.
I was targeting incredibly powerful keywords. Resulting in books that could get me a thousand dollars a month in sales which is amazing. But usually, you're not going to guess these keywords.
Because we don't want to write books in initials that are both profitable and also things we can do in the long run. So, keep on writing books because as I mentioned, we're going to build a brand around your name and that micro-niche that you're targeting.
So, you're generally not going to be making a thousand dollars a month when you get started. I just want to tell you, I mean a lot of the fake gurus will tell you “Oh no, you just throw it out there. You'll be making millions.”
I’m just telling you the truth; it's going to take some time. You're going to have to invest that time to make sure that you can build up off of that time. But the thing is that in the case of Mark, this whole thing started with just a discovery session.
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Just a free one, you can check that out and we moved into my 1-On-1 Program where we were able to go deep diving into his stuff. To develop that action plan to move forward to get his business up and going. But where did Mark go from there?
Well, the thing was that he started formatting in Jutoh like I tell people. All my students are going through my Formatting Course on how to use Jutoh. As they were moving through, they were able to format his book and get it into the EPUB format.
So, he could get it out onto Draft2Digital and start making sales. What happened? Well, surprise! There is a market for it and we started seeing the sales coming in from his Draft2Digital account.
In addition, he started working on the paperback version. But it was so easy because Jutoh simplifies the whole process as we're going through that. He's able to just click a single button and get his book onto the market very quickly.
Now you have to keep in mind in his particular case, his book was a fiction book. But the fact is that the methods that I'm discussing here would work regardless of the type of book you have.
So even if you're doing short stories, it won't be a challenge at all. Even though Mark was not doing the short story front. But if you are, you should check out Get Your Short Story Published on Amazon and I will see you over there.